Posts Tagged ‘MG’

Blurb: Carol has to spend her summer on her grandfather’s ranch—when strange things start happening.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5

Carolina didn’t know quite what she was getting into when she went with her parents, sister, and brother down to her Grandpa Serge’s sheep ranch. Carol’s skipping out on a whole summer full of having fun with her friends just to help her parents clean out the house, and move the obstinate Serge into a home. Worse, her dad—who spent the last twelve years estranged from his own father—is putting the place up for sale against Grandpa Serge’s will. (more…)

Blurb: After the death of their mother, Charlie and his sister Imogen discover a secret world where Mom is still alive.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ out of 5

Review:

I received an ARC of this beautiful little novel in exchange for an honest review, and it is my absolute pleasure to extoll all its many virtues.

In some ways, CHARLIE PRICE is about grief and mourning. In some ways, it’s about bravery and adventure. And in some ways, it’s about denial, hope, and redemption—and the resilience of the human heart in the face of all of it. Tackling these subjects in the middle-grade sphere can be a challenge, but Maschari writes with incredible wit, humor, and kindness. (more…)

I’m disclaiming this post with one thing: I’m still new to Tumblr. I’m still building my base and learning the best practices. But here I want to talk basic and broad, and discuss A) why Tumblr is a great tool with which to build your social media strategy and author platform, and B) how to use it effectively without feeling like it’s a time-sink or “just one more thing to do.” Tumblr can be both fun, educational, and another way to get involved in your community and build an audience–particularly in the YA and MG writer communities. Guess who’s on Tumblr the most?

Young adults and tweens. Your readers are right here, spending huge amounts of time on this new social media network (now that their parents are all on Facebook and it’s no longer a safe haven for them). So grab it by the horns.

What is Tumblr?

Think of Tumblr as Facebook meets blogging. You have a “Dashboard,” which is essentially a Facebook feed. You “follow” other Tumblrs, and their posts appear on your feed. You have a few options: (more…)

This was my first year doing National Novel Writing Month and it was a wild success. I just finished the last keystroke of my 50,497th word and I feel like I could walk on the sun in my bare feet and come away with the perfect tan.

Since I hit the 50k-word mark for a middle grade novel titled Gryphon, I am now supposedly a “winner,” though anyone who completes this feat of caffeine and bruised fingertips counts as a “winner.” And, in reality, 50,000 words is short even for a middle grade book. Nonetheless I’ve entered the third act of the story, a.k.a., the sprinting stage, where all the really big “oh no you di’int” stuff goes down; from here I know every twist that comes next, and it’s just a matter of time (much like a train wreck) until the end arrives.

As a writer, I’ll often map out big twists or moments in advance, and then anticipate (and also visualize, often on endless repeat like your kid watching Lion King ten million times) a particularly important scene for days and sometimes weeks. Here’s one from the second act. I was pretty gratified to finally put this baby down on the word processor:

He didn’t push her away, and for that, she was grateful. It was awkward at first; their lips trying to find purchase against the other, their hands unsure of where they should go, but nevertheless it felt perfect, more perfect than any other thing Rheya had ever done. It was right, if a little strange.

Then she realized she couldn’t breathe and broke away, and the two of them sat there, panting, staring only at each other as if the entire world around them had vanished into the dark. And who would have minded? If the world were gone, and only these two left, everything would probably be as it should.

A prickle of light poked its head over the distant hills. It was dawn. But neither of the two children could let the other go.